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March 16, 2010

Walking Away

WALKING AWAY

Arizona is one state that's really feeling the effects of the collapse in home prices. One in every 163 households got a foreclosure filing last month. Steve Walsh is one of the many who may soon see his home put up for auction. What makes Steve's story different is that he could have continued to pay his mortgage, but he is choosing not to. It's a choice that a growing number of people are considering. Steve decided that it just wasn't worth it anymore to keep making payments on a place that wasn't going to regain its lost value.

DEAR STARBUCKS

Marc Tasman was a guest on the program a few weeks ago. He took a Polaroid photograph of himself every day for ten years. Christine Ferrera wrote in response to that program. Christine is conducting an "endurance art project" of her own. She's been filling out and submitting the comment card at Starbucks - daily. She joins Dick Gordon to share some of her letters, and the coffee company's responses.

Special thanks to the storytelling program The Stoop for the audio from Christine's public readings of her letters. Listen to Christine's public reading here.

With the dramatic rise in foreclosures, some people have gotten creative with how they buy and sell their homes. Sherry Crosslin and Jerry Stussman took a novel route: They swapped houses. Also in this episode: a listener story of a false kidnapping.

Danny Devenney and Mark Ervine couldn't have more opposing political views. Danny is a former member of the Irish Republican Army. Mark is the son of a famous Loyalist. Both Mark and Danny are muralists in Belfast, and it's on the walls of their home city that they've found common ground. Also in this episode, Dic Mike Allen wrote in to tell us about what he did many summers ago. Mike's parents had a summer cottage in Delavan, W.I. His father and mother had done a great deal of work on it, and they let Mike and his friends use the cottage the summer before they returned to college. The guys decided to have a cookout followed by a campfire. So Mike went to the town police station to get the proper burning permit. While leaving the station, Mike noticed trucks leaving the fire department next door, and he suddenly remembered the French fries he had left cooking back at the cottage.